Opposition MPs Demand Separate Environment Bill

CBC

Posted:
04/27/2012 5:05 pm EDT
Updated:
06/27/2012 5:12 am EDT

Opposition MPs are angry with the government for proposing such major environmental policy changes in the budget implementation bill that was introduced yesterday and are demanding the proposals be hived off into a separate bill. (CP) | CP

Opposition MPs are angry with the government for proposing major environmental policy changes in the budget implementation bill introduced yesterday and are demanding the proposals be hived off into a separate bill.

Bill C-38, which is more than 400 pages, proposes changes to numerous pieces of legislation, suggests repealing some laws and has other measures to implement what was promised in last month's budget.

A large portion of the bill is dedicated to overhauling how environmental assessments are conducted, changes that were announced by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver last week; it also aims to repeal the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act.

The Conservatives will be able to use their majority in the House of Commons and the Senate to pass the bill.

NDP finance critic Peggy Nash accused the government in question period of launching a "full frontal assault on environmental protection" in the budget bill. She said the proposed changes will shut citizens out of pipeline project reviews, give the minister sweeping powers to approve projects and exempt many projects from review.

"Why is the minister hiding such significant changes in a 400-page budget bill? Is it because he knows that Canadians oppose this reckless attack on our environmental protection?" Nash said.

Conservative MP David Anderson, parliamentary secretary to Oliver, said the NDP should get on board with the government's plan.

"Responsible resource development is key for Canadians if we want to have a strong economy and we want to have strong environmental protection in the future," he said. "I get tired of the no-development party over there because it criticizes everybody and praises no one."

The Conservatives should "do the right thing" and put the proposals in a separate bill that would then be studied by the appropriate committees, Liberal MP Kirsty Duncan said.

The budget implementation bill will go before the finance committee, but there are standing committees on the environment and on natural resources where she said she would like to see the proposed changes scrutinized.

According to Duncan, the proposed legislation will gut environmental protection, but her claim was rejected by Conservative MP Michelle Rempel, the parliamentary secretary to Environment Minister Peter Kent.

"Our government is the first government in a long time that has actually cared about the environment," Rempel replied.

In a news release Duncan said the finance committee doesn't have the expertise to study complex environmental regulations.

"This government is trying to avoid public scrutiny by cramming major environmental changes into a sweeping kitchen sink budget bill and circumventing necessary parliamentary oversight," Duncan charged.

Nash backed Duncan's demand that the environment-related proposals in the budget bill be separated into a different piece of legislation when she spoke to reporters.

'Devastating changes'

"It should be broken out and go to the environment committee. It should be a separate bill. These changes are of concern to Canadians and they ought to be debated," she said. "It's a basic question of democracy that parliamentarians ought to be respected in their role of being able to give proper oversight and debate to such substantive changes."

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May called the budget implementation bill "420 pages of omnibus abuse of parliamentary process" and also asked for the environment measures to be taken out.

Speaking to reporters after question period she said the budget bill contains "the most devastating changes to environmental law in Canada in the last 40 years in one law."

May said the government is going to try to pass the budget bill before the end of June and that the finance committee won't have enough time to properly study all of the changes contained in it.

"This is about a government that's so afraid of allowing Canadians to see a bill, to see these bills in the light of day, that they're pre-empting legitimate parliamentary process by stuffing devastating changes into one bill that will never be properly examined," she said.

The government says the environment measures will get scrutiny through a special subcommittee of the finance committee that will be set up to study what it calls responsible resource development.

Rempel told CBC New Network's Power & Politics that while the members for the subcommittee haven't been chosen yet she hoped they will include environment critics from the parties.

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Best & Worst Provincial Climate Change Policies

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Here's a look at the best and worst climate change policies in Canada, as ranked by the David Sazuki Foundation. All info comes from the report "All Over The Map 2012." (CP)

"Quebec is still leading the field in many areas, including being the first province to enact a modest cap-and-trade system on industrial GHG emissions, although its commitment to expanding oil and gas exploration and road and highway building threaten progress and its standing." (Alamy)

"Ontario's pioneering Green Energy Act is already reaping environmental and economic benefits for the province and could serve as a blueprint for other jurisdictions" (GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images)

"Top-ranked in 2008, B.C., although it leads the country on pricing carbon pollution, has lost momentum and stalled on implementing measures to ensure it meets its 2020 reduction target with the threat of shale gas and the potential development of a gas-powered LNG terminal that could undermine the province's leadership." (PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images)

"Although concerns remain about past failures, Nova Scotia has taken important steps, including a hard cap to reduce GHG emissions from the power sector." (Tim BREAKMEIE/AFP/Getty Images)

"Although Manitoba has shown some leadership on energy efficiency, there have been too many broken promises and half (if any) measures to reduce emissions from major sources." (Flickr: Jezz's Photostream

"Progress has stalled in New Brunswick with a change of provincial government. It remains to be seen whether the new government will continue to stall, go forward or go backward." (Luke Pinneo/Getty Images)

"The government of the Northwest Territories still relies more on subsidies than regulations, but it has made a commitment to increasing renewable energy and is considering a carbon tax." (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

"Although the government of Newfoundland and Labrador has, more so than many jurisdictions, led by example in tackling its own emissions, its long-awaited updated action plans detail no concrete steps to tackle and reduce emissions from major sources." (Flickr: magnolia1000)

"The territory of Nunavut still has no GHG reduction targets and has failed to include promising measures in official strategies." (Flickr: courosa)

"Despite an admirable goal for government of Yukon operations to be carbon neutral by 2020, there are no territory-wide GHG reduction targets or plans to tackle emissions from industry." (Flickr: Andrewsaurusrex)

"Alberta's commitment to heavily polluting, damaging and unsustainable fossil fuel industries continues unabated with a recent analysis showing the province is only on track to achieve one third of its pollution-reduction target for 2020." (MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

"It is difficult to imagine any jurisdiction taking the threats of climate change less seriously than Saskatchewan currently does." (Flickr: Just a Prairie Boy's photostream)